November 10th, 2025
Just days remain in the 2025 tennis season, but it was a busy week of action over the past seven days. If you struggled to keep up with all the results and storylines, then you’re in the right place. We breakdown everything you might have missed, both on and off the court.
Champions’ corner
Three tournaments reached their conclusion last week, led by the WTA Finals. Here’s who took home the trophies:
- WTA Finals: Elena Rybakina beat Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6(0)
- Hellenic Championship (ATP 250): Novak Djokovic beat Lorenzo Musetti 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
- Moselle Open (ATP 250): Learner Tien beat Cameron Norrie 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6)
Three brilliant finals unfolded with Rybakina completing her excellent late-season surge by defeating Sabalenka, while Djokovic and Tien both claimed personally-significant titles as well.
Rybakina becomes first Asian winner of WTA Finals
Rybakina’s title in Riyadh was historic, and not just because of the manner in which she won.
A month ago, the Kazakh was looking like her season would be well-and-truly over at the end of October. However, a string of strong results on the Asian swing bagged Rybakina the final spot at the year-end championships, and she made the most of it, becoming the first woman representing an Asian country to lift the trophy.
She did so the hard way too, beating world No 1 Sabalenka in the final, with the Belarusian aiming to claim her maiden WTA Finals title. The win puts Rybakina back into the Tour’s top five, and nets her well over $5 million as well. Read more about Elena Rybakina’s racquet.
Following Rybakina’s win, there was plenty of drama too. During the trophy ceremony, she refused to take a picture with the WTA CEO Portia Archer – a move sparked by the suspension of her coach Stefano Vukov earlier this year.
Djokovic continues to make history
Djokovic’s title in Athens was also significant, but for an entirely different reason.
By beating Musetti in the final, he broke his deadlock with Roger Federer for the most hardcourt titles in history. The Serb has now won 72 tournaments on the surface, edging ahead of Federer’s 71.
At 38 years and five months, Djokovic also became the oldest player to win a title on the ATP Tour since Ken Rosewall in 1977.
It’s clear his 101st title meant a lot to Djokovic too: following matchpoint, he executed a rare celebratory shirt tear.
Tien continues low-key impressive maiden year
One player flying under the radar in 2025 is Learner Tien. The 19-year-old became the first American teenager since Andy Roddick to win a title when he beat Norrie in the Metz final on Sunday.
In doing so, Tien has edged his way into the ATP’s year-end top 30, sitting just four spots behind fellow teen Joao Fonseca at No 28. With all the limelight on Fonseca, Tien has quietly had one of the best years a teen has had on Tour in decades.
Late ATP Finals drama
The week’s tennis results set up a dramatic start to the ATP Finals, with the lineup not confirmed until 24 hours before the event began.
Musetti was playing for his spot in the event, needing to defeat Djokovic in the Athens final to qualify. When he didn’t, that meant Felix Auger-Aliassime bagged eighth place instead.
That is, until hours after winning Athens, Djokovic withdrew from the ATP Finals citing a shoulder injury. This drew plenty of flack from tennis fans, given the Serb certainly didn’t seem injured when he defeated Musetti in their three-hour epic.
As a result, both Musetti and Auger-Aliassime gain entry to the year-end event, with the former arriving in rough shape physically, while the latter has had a week off. That means the alternates for the ATP Finals are Alexander Bublik and Casper Ruud. With the shape that some players are arriving in physically, we stand by our earlier prediction that Bublik will get a game.
It would be good to see Ruud on court too, given the Norwegian’s sharp new haircut.
Alcaraz sends early message in Turin
Capping off a frenetic week of action, the ATP Finals had its first two matches completed on Sunday.
Carlos Alcaraz took on Alex de Minaur and sent a message to the rest of the competition, racing past the Aussie 7-6(5), 6-2. The ATP Tour’s statistical analysis put the Spaniard’s performance as his third-best of the year.
Alexander Zverev also got on the board, beating Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6.
Coming up this week
The only major tennis event this week is the ATP Finals, but there’s plenty to watch. Of course, who wins the title is significant, but there are a myriad of sub-plots unfolding too.
Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are battling it out for year-end No 1. The former needs to sweep his group matches or reach the final if he drops one in group play. Sinner, on the other hand, needs to go undefeated and hope Alcaraz slips up.
There’s also a contest between Taylor Fritz and Shelton for the year-end American No 1 spot. Just 35 points separate the pair in the live rankings at the moment (with Shelton in front), meaning whoever goes furthest in Turin will lock up the top spot.
